


Painful Memories

by LegendaryDreamer



Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 16:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4528335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegendaryDreamer/pseuds/LegendaryDreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Athos discovers a forgotten love letter from his wife.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Painful Memories

**Author's Note:**

> After watching 2x05 of The Musketeers this became my head canon as to why Athos made a point to never open letters.

~*~ 

He came upon it by accident, while searching for the few necessities he planned to leave with. Athos stared at the letter neatly placed within the drawer. It had been tucked away, hidden within a secret compartment. How long it had been there, he didn’t know. What he recognized was Anne’s cursive handwriting with a forget-me-knot seal stamped across the folded paper to hold it together. 

Athos hesitated several times before he reached in and took it. One hand held the letter while the other lifted a bottle for another swig of brandy. He brushed his sleeve across his beard before he allowed his hand to drop down to his side again. Some of the bottle’s contents splashed on the floor, leaving behind another red stain. 

_Why now?_ It would’ve been better if he’d never seen it. All his recent hurt came rushing back, but it also reminded him why he was leaving behind his birthright. Too many rooms with too many memories, the sad outweighed the happy at the moment. 

In a drunken stupor he walked across the room and fell onto the bed. Athos rolled over and sat upright. He hardly noticed the red trail left on the blanket behind him. Still gripped within his hand, Athos looked at the letter now stained a blood red. Part of it would be illegible now, but he’d made up his mind to read what he could. 

After several failed attempts to place the bottle on the side table, he finally achieved his goal. Next was to open the letter, he used no grace in that effort. Athos tore open the seal as the paper ripped across the edges. The only words he could discern were a blurred, _To my dearest Athos_ and _With all my heart, Anne_. Everything else was either destroyed or didn’t matter to him at that moment in time. 

With one fluid motion he tossed it across the room, and wished it away. Bridget would come by one last time to clean up after him. He wondered what his house staff would think to see their liege lord leave the estate. They didn’t know he never planned to come back. Athos had only told them of plans to visit Paris, not that he hoped to lose himself in the capital. 

Tears streamed uncontrollably down his cheeks, as he pounded his hands against his thighs. “Why, Anne … why …” 

As he picked up the bottle one last time and prepared to leave the room, Athos swore to never open a letter again. But he did bend down to pick up the final love note he’d received from Anne. 

Along with the locket, they were the last pieces of her he could hold. 


End file.
